


The Spark

by Foophile



Category: Battlestar Galactica 2003
Genre: Academy Era, Alternate Universe, F/M, First Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-12
Packaged: 2017-10-22 10:52:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foophile/pseuds/Foophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s hard to miss as the son of William Adama, the best pilot the Fleet has ever seen. At first Kara watches the Adama family hoping to catch a glimpse of the myth himself, but she quickly notices that he’s not with them. It’s just the boy, Lee, one of the girls tells her, his little brother and their mother, a stunning blonde with the wary eyes of a solider.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spark

**Author's Note:**

> BSG and all related characters do not belong to me.

Kara sees him on the first day at Fleet Academy.

He’s hard to miss as the son of William Adama, the best pilot the Fleet has ever seen. At first Kara watches the Adama family hoping to catch a glimpse of the myth himself, but she quickly notices that he’s not with them. It’s just the boy, Lee, one of the girls tells her, his little brother and their mother, a stunning blonde with the wary eyes of a solider.

But just because Husker isn’t with them, Kara decides, there’s no reason to ignore the Adama’s either. Lee’s rather enjoyable to look at. Dark haired and handsome, he’s definitely a head turner in his Academy uniform, broad shouldered and fit for service. And there’s something else, Kara thinks still watching the family from across the Residential courtyard.

He doesn’t seem like the stuck up prep school boy she’s seen so far that moves in and ignores the lower half of the building comprised of mainly scholarship students like herself. He accepts the group tour given by a Cadet and she catches his eye as his family walks around. He smiles and she returns the grin, looking away before her ears blush red.

Damn, he’s pretty.  


~

  
The first two months of training go by in a blur of physical tests and placement exams. Kara’s roommate, Melinda, turns into a ghost when within the first week she supposedly finds the love of her life and practically moves into his dorm. She doesn’t worry much about finding friends – they’ve always come to her rather than the other way around.

For instance, Karl finds her when she’s kicked out of the daily timed eight mile run. There’s no such thing as running it too fast but the instructor, who only emerges from his office five minutes before the hour is up, sees Kara sitting by herself (she’d finished fifteen minutes ago) and determines that she’s somehow cheated. When she loudly corrects him she’s sent packing for the day.

Karl follows her out. “Hey!”

Kara turns, slinging her knapsack over her shoulder. Karl looks nervous and hunches his tall thin frame at the flash of anger in her eyes.

“A few of us spoke to Sands and told him that we saw you finish. He wants to apologize.”

Kara flicks the butt of her smoke onto the manicured lawn. “Frak him. He can apologize to my ass when I transfer out of this bullshit class.”

Karl swallows audibly. “This is a required course. You have to take it.”

“Not with him,” she says. “He’s been waiting to pick on me since day one. I know people like him who think that they can sum me up in one look and I’ve worked to get here just as much as everyone else.”

“No one else is saying you didn’t.”

“He just did,” Kara hisses. “I did probably the best time this Academy’s seen and instead of taking my word for it, he threatened to put a black mark on my record.”

“Look,” Karl reaches into his gym bag and produces a wrapped lollipop. He hands it to her. “Take some time to chill out and maybe come back so that he can apologize in private. Transfer or whatever but tell him what you think and take your recognition. Maybe you did do the best time.”

“I did,” Kara mutters as she takes the red candy. He twitches out a lopsided smile and she grins to show that she isn’t mad at him. She strips the wrapping off the candy and pops it into her mouth. “You know it’s kinda creepy to walk around giving people lollipops.”

Karl smirks and for the first time Kara sees dimples. “Who says they’re for other people? I just gave you some of my personal stash.”

Kara laughs and the young man stands a little straighter. He’s cute, although not her type, and she thinks that the world needs more nice guys. She asks his name just to watch him blush.

“Look, um, if you’re not doing anything after this, would you like to go to lunch? Just as friends hanging out.”

She lifts an eyebrow at his forwardness and agrees with the caveat that he gives her another sucker.

When Kara transfers out of the class the next day Karl comes with her.  


~

  
The day they start the _real_ learning, Kara sees Lee again for the first time in almost three months.

He looks brow beaten with dark circles under his eyes and a frown twisting his mouth. Lee doesn’t greet many people even though all of their year’s cadets are gathered in the atrium. He barely cracks a smile for his roommate and deliberately keeps his head down when a group of instructors pass by. Kara wonders if he’s been getting a lot of flak.

All of the cadets’ line up as the instructors separate them into groups of two and show them the basics of the simulation machines.

Then comes what the instructors lovingly call The Crash Course. It’s really a fifteen minute laugh fest as they throw students in the cockpit and watch them literally crash and burn after a few seconds of spinning wildly in an unfamiliar virtual world. The first student tumbles over the wing of the fake Viper spitting bile and that sets the bar for most of the day.

Even though Kara is placed in another group, she watches the progression of the other for when Lee takes his turn. The instructor, a big burly man specializing in Raptor instruction, says something that makes the younger man’s lips thin dangerously and then lets him climb the ladder to the cockpit.

As soon as he sits down and puts on the simulation helmet, Kara can tell that he’s out to prove himself. Lee doesn’t look nervous and there’s no hesitation as he wraps a hand around the joystick and presses the designated buttons to start the simulation. The fact that he doesn’t have to bail out or die in a virtual fireball singles him out within the first five minutes.

When Lee not only stays in the air but moves on to engage an enemy, the entire room stills to watch. Kara can see that same instructor mutter something to another with an ugly look on his face. She would warn Lee to keep an eye out for him if she, well, knew Lee.

Lee ends his session a half an hour after he begins by dying in a dogfight, three against one. His hair is wet with perspiration when he takes off his helmet and, even though the instructors object, he gets a small round of applause from his fellow students. Kara is among them. _Of course_ , she thinks, _I’ll do better. But the hunk’s not bad._  


~

  
“I hear when one of the instructors asked him if his father would come in to talk to us, he said that he and the old man didn’t talk and refused to ask on the teacher’s behalf.”

“If he hates daddy so much then why is he even here?”

“Maybe he’s trying to impress mommy. I’ve heard he calls her constantly.”

“Oh Gods that is so gross!”

“That boy’s hot as Hades but frakkin’ crazy.”

Kara’s sitting in the cafeteria listening to a group of four girls talk shit about Lee like the young man isn’t eating his lunch only three tables away. Luckily the boy seems completely immersed in his textbook but Kara fumes anyway. Those girls are the reason why she has no female friends.

Her glower from the next table goes right over their gossiping heads.

“John says he’s a stuck up little shit.”

“John was brave enough to talk to him?”

“Well, no, but John knows a guy who knows Adama’s roommate and he says that Lee hasn’t said a word to him.”

“It’s like he doesn’t want to have friends.”

“So lame.”

“Totally.”

Kara rolls her eyes.  


~

  
Becoming friends with Lee is as easy as beating his time in the Viper simulator.

She grabs his attention as he comes out of a machine. He’s sweaty from being there for all of the three hours which he signed up, his jet black hair dripping into a towel while his uniform undershirt hangs translucent with sweat. His hands are beet red and Kara can’t stop watching them.

Tongue-tied, Kara gapes when he’s the one who speaks first.

“You’re Thrace right?”

Kara regains her nerve and shoots out a hand for him to shake. “You can call me Kara.”

His skin is hot when he touches her. “Lee Adama.”

“Yeah,” Kara says, taking her tingling fingers back. “I know who you are. I’ve heard anyway.”

Lee gives her a boyish smirk. “I’ve heard of you too.”

“Not all of it bad I hope.”

“No.” Lee’s slate blue eyes narrow. “I can respect healthy competition.”

Kara feels her mouth pull into a fangy grin. His attitude is amusing to someone who’s constantly giving it. “Not really much competition. I have been leading the board for the past two weeks.”

Lee gives her a look, surprised and maybe impressed then nods. “Don’t get too comfortable there.”

“Keep me on my toes and I won’t.” Kara smiles sunnily. She’s flirting and doesn’t feel bad about it at all.

Lee says nothing though and Kara hesitates, wondering if she’s gone too far. He looks at her critically, maybe figuring out if he can trust her or if she’s just another wolf in sheep’s clothing, then tilts his mouth up in a weak grin. He slings his towel over his shoulders and it takes Kara a second to focus away from the bulge of his biceps.

“I’ll do my best,” Lee says carefully.

“So,” Kara huffs, feeling awkward. “Have you had the chance to go head-to-head with someone yet? I have a unit for three hours if you’re up to it?”

Finally, Lee gives her _that_ look. Like he’s noticed that she’s a woman as well as one of the best rookie pilots in the Academy. Kara’s blood zings through her veins at the tiny spark of interest and she concedes, if only in her head, that her interest in Lee goes well beyond his heritage and hinges on the perfect cut of his jaw line, sleek black hair, and round ass. She has her shallow moments and this certainly is one of them.

She holds her breath until Lee seems to make up his mind and sighs. “Sure. I could always use some more practice."

Kara’s smile is triumphant.  


~

  
She’s trying to study or at least staring at the page when there's a knock on her dorm door.

Odds are it’s her roommate’s clingy boyfriend so she ignores the first and second knock then spins angrily when the door opens anyway.

“What the-,” she chokes on her words when she sees Lee Adama in the doorway.

Lee waffles between trying to look aloof and not looking nervous, settling for putting his hands behind his back in an at ease stance. “I-I’m sorry. I was wondering if you had time for training on the simulators but you look busy.”

“No,” Kara says as little too forcefully. Lee cringes, steps away, and Kara nearly falls out of her seat trying explain. “I’m not busy at all. In fact…” She tosses her textbook across the room where it bounces once on her mattress and flops to the floor. “How about a run? You’re dressed for it.”

Lee was indeed dressed in jogging shorts and a tank. Kara was having a hard time trying not to ogle.

“I’m not really a runner,” Lee says.

“Then you should be,” Kara argues. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but these military types like having us run. A lot.”

Lee cracks a grin and Kara considers the test she’s going to fail tomorrow worth that flash of teeth. “You’ve got a point. But you’re not changed.”

“Oh.” Kara stands. She pulls her t-shirt over her head right there and adjusts the falling straps of her sports bra. She’s already wearing sweatpants so she tosses the shirt, grabs a towel, some water from the tiny fridge and turns to catch him staring. A little zip goes up her spine at his perusal. He pulls his eyes away from the stretch of her bra when she grins. “Ready to go?”

Lee clears his throat. “Ready.”  


~

  
Kara’s never thought so before, but it turns out that friends are a good thing.

Karl’s girlfriend, Gina, goes to college not far away from the Academy and happens to love the Fleet’s Pyramid team. Even though the season hasn’t yet begun, once Gina learns that Kara’s on scholarship to play for the team Kara has a permanent welcome at her father’s pub, The Tornado. It also turns out that Gina’s father thinks Husker Adama is a god so Lee comes along sometimes as well.

It’s been three more months of pilot training and Kara’s finding it hard to believe that she ever wanted to be anything else. Her roommate has already dropped out, pregnant, but Kara enjoys the extra space when she’s been secluded to her dorm after mouthing off to an instructor. Lee doesn’t understand her method of communication but she can see changes already – she’s gotten that asshole instructor who was out for Lee’s blood off his back and the young man doesn’t have a clue.

She and Lee have logged more Cadet hours than most of the Academy. They’ve bonded over the occasional swells of animosity they’ve garnered from the other Cadets and the fact that their parents are career military.

Kara doesn’t even pretend to understand why Lee hates his father so much. Sure, divorce sucks but at least the old man wasn’t slamming his hands in door jambs. She can’t tell him but sometimes she thinks Lee just resents how much he actually loves the man.

Lee’s managed to make some more friends and Kara wants to believe that’s because they’ve seen what she has when they’re dog fighting in the simulations. He’s confident, joking through the wireless and hooting when a maneuver they’d spoken about in class is correctly executed.

“I can’t wait until we’re in the real things,” he confides when they’re both tired and the other cadets are clamoring for more time in the units.

They’ve started to break with their usual habit of parting at the gym showers, instead having a quick lunch or dinner and enjoying the last of the warm Caprica weather before the months of cold winter rain.

They’re walking across the lawn, Kara listening with only half an ear. The Pyramid season begins in a week and she’s still trying to convince the Captain to play her for their first game. So far, he hasn’t been receptive.

“You know in two more months we’ll be doing team runs in the Raptors and…” Lee stops walking and Kara goes on a few more steps before she notices. He doesn’t look like he's paying attention, deep in his own head. Kara’s never met anyone who thinks as much as he does and she’s learned that that’s (sometimes) not a good thing.

“Yeah?” She prods him with her water bottle when people start to look.

“I want you-,” Lee pauses and Kara’s heart pounds painfully just once. “I want you to be on my team. I can’t trust that anyone else won’t crash us.”

Kara laughs at that and her second of wild hope. Getting to know Lee has been unlike any experience she’s ever had. He's probably one of the most complex people she’s ever met with ties to his mother and brother that are more paternal in nature. He’s honorable and conditionally friendly yet can also use his intellect to cut people down before they even see it coming. After only a few months, Lee’s learned how to read Kara with scary accuracy and yet he can also be amazingly blind to her growing crush. Kara doesn’t mind the ignorance so much thus far; she’s rather embarrassed about it.

Lee’s looking at her expectantly when her heart’s calmed down.

“Sure,” Kara says in a register higher than usual. “If the instructors don’t assign them.”

Lee grimaces. “They could do that, couldn’t they?”

“Don’t worry about it. I have a little influence in my corner if it doesn’t work out.” She winks.

Lee rolls his eyes. “You haven’t even played a game yet, Kara. You shouldn’t misuse power you don’t really have.”

“Yet,” she puncuates with a wagging finger.

Lee chuckles. “Yet." Sounding as if he doesn't quite believe her.

“You’re going to be glad to be friends with a famous Pyramid player one day, Lee. You just wait. I’ve got a destiny.”

“Oh right,” Lee agrees with sarcasm. “How could I forget.” He stops her when she goes to sip from her water bottle and uses her hand to tip the liquid into his mouth instead. Kara blinks.

Once he lets go Lee acts as if it never happened. “Hey you wanna go to The Tornado after dinner?”

Kara’s hand tingles from where he clutched it. She fishmouths for a second before saying that she would.

Lee’s smile, more of a flirtatious smirk, tells her that for some reason something has changed.  


~

  
As much as Kara expects it, nothing happens at the bar that night or the next or the next. In fact, other than a strange moment of affectionate touching here and there, it feels like nothing has changed at all.

Kara’s frustrated to say the least.

They start Raptor training without a hitch and even though Kara spends a lot more time in Pyramid practices and games, hours in a shaky Raptor with Lee are still like those times in the simulators. Frequently they have another cadet and an instructor on board for guidance but sometimes it feels like it’s just them talking to each other over the wireless, trading barbs.

Karl picks up on the dynamic the minute he’s on board. Kara’s stepped aside to let the man steer. He’s really taken to Raptors and as the cadets will be placed at the end of the year with the craft they are stronger in, Karl has the most to gain during Raptor training. Lee sits as his ECO, overseen by their instructor, and the two seem to get along fine.

They are spooling down a simulation of a short range FTL jump when Karl asks Lee if he’d like to go to the beach that night for the last clambake of the season. Kara’s busy talking with their instructor but she hears the question, Lee’s affirmative answer, and what they say as the two men exit the cabin:

“Don’t forget to bring the girlfriend,” Karl says.

“I wouldn’t dare it,” Lee replies.  


~

  
Again, Kara holds her breath for what seems like days waiting for some sign from Lee that something has changed. At the clambake, he’s as initially nervous as he always is in large groups of strangers, but after a few drinks he warms up, dragging Kara along with him from campfire to campfire. Karl and Gina are their shadows until the end of the night when the couple sneaks away to do whatever Karl implies with a sly wink.

Before Kara knows it, she and Lee and are alone in front of a roaring fire on the dark beach. They share a blanket to stave off the cold wind coming off the coast and a bottle of ambrosia to warm them from the inside.

Lee’s pressed against her from shoulder to hip and when he leans his head on her shoulder, Kara’s heart trip-hammers until she takes a calming breath. Lee’s soft lips brush the nape of her neck when he shifts closer and she turns her head the slightest bit to show some interest. Her stomach churns as she sits and feels him breathe then her heart plummets when Lee lets out a wispy but obvious snore.

“And he’s out,” Kara says to herself, imagining how much Karl will laugh when she tells him about this. The next day she finds her estimate to be both right and wrong; Karl laughs longer than she expected and nearly pees his pants.

“You’re never going to get laid.”

“I’m his friend,” Kara corrects. “I’m not trying to get into his pants.”

Karl waves her off. “Pull the other one Kara. Other than Pyramid and Vipers, that boy has been your number one priority. What I don’t understand is why you’re pushing this whole friend thing when you could have had him by now. He’s a man, you’re a woman. Tab A into Slot B. Easy.” Karl mimes crudely and Kara bites back a smile.

“He’s a good guy and…” Kara pauses and says the rest in a lower tone. “I’m not sure he’s interested in that. It’s not so easy with people who haven’t done it before.”

Karl’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. “Wait a frakkin’ minute! Are you saying that flyboy is a virgin?”

Kara closes the window of her dorm, glad for the seclusion. “No, not that I know of.”

“So you’re…,” Karl stammers looking at her as if he’s never seen her before. “No way.”

Kara turns a rare shade of red and confesses. “Look, I’ve had boyfriends before. I’ve just never gone all the way. Despite what my mother thought.” The last has a bitter edge that Karl’s smart enough not to prod.

The man shakes his head and dips into his pocket for one of his signature suckers. He pops it into his mouth around his words. “I’ll be damned.”

“You will be if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone,” Kara threatens.

“My lips are sealed.” Karl promises, throwing away an invisible key.

Kara trusts him but there’s a glint in his eye that keeps her unsettled until she knows that he’s back in his own dorm, far away from both Kara and Lee on the floor above her.  


~

  
There’s really no explanation for why, on the night before the Apaturian Holiday, Lee comes to her dorm.

All of the cadets are cramming for tests before they go home for a week of festivities and Kara is especially tired from the victory party last night when her team crushed the Caprican College’s Troubadours. She's still nursing the hangover.

She asks the knocker to come in, uncaring of who it is, so that her temples have a chance to stop pounding. Kara’s pleased to see that it’s Lee.

“Finally dug your nose out from under those books?”

Kara’s using her text as a pillow and an occasional blindfold. She hasn’t been able to sit up in over an hour, but then again she hasn’t been trying very hard.

Lee’s in his civvies as if he’s been out. She looks closer and grins at the reason – a six pack in Lee’s hand.

“If I haven’t said it enough while I’ve been drunk, I have to say it now: I love you,” Kara grunts as she tries to move. Lee gives her a rare wide smile and saves her the trouble by sitting next to her on the bed.

For once he doesn’t smell like sweat, just soap and some light cologne that Kara’s never smelled before. It’s a musky spice that borders on cinnamon or sandalwood, Kara likes it so much that her aching body betrays her and leans close.

“I thought that you might want a break,” Lee says after a long silence. He’s handed over a beer and sipped from his own as if he has something on his mind. Kara waits for it, knowing that he'll speak at his leisure.

He glances at her out of the corner of his eye then says, “I saw you that first day you know? Not when you were watching me move in but before, when we arrived.”

Kara is stunned to silence and Lee continues unabated.

“You were outside with a lone duffle bag and everyone else had so much stuff. They were all nervous, I was a wreck, but you looked so calm, like there was no where else you wanted to be. Your enthusiasm kind of saved me that day because I was seriously wondering if I’d made the right decision.”

“I didn’t know that,” Kara says once her tongue loosens. She feels embarrassed that Lee saw all of that yet a tiny wick deep inside is set aflame at the naked honesty in his voice.

“You weren’t supposed to know,” Lee tells her. “As beautiful as I thought you looked, I didn’t know if I could trust you yet. If I could trust anyone here because-,”

“Of who you are,” Kara finishes for him. She bites down the edge of a hopeful grin. “You thought I was beautiful?”

Lee shifts to look her in the eye and her muscles quiver at the dark tension on his face. “I still do.”

At that, Kara doesn’t wait for Lee to make a move. Her abdominals ache as she reaches up to kiss the corner of his mouth. Lee goes statue still then pulls her closer with gentle hands on her face, adjusting them both so that he can kiss her mouth full on, harder than she expected. The pressure forces open her lips and his tongue slips in and shocks a gasp from her throat.

Lee tastes like beer and toothpaste. It makes her feel unbelievably happy to know that he’s planned this, maybe been looking forward to his chance the way she’s been waiting for him to take it. Take her.

Lee pulls away way too soon and Kara blinks up at him suddenly afraid that everything she’d just been thinking was a pipe dream. Gods, Lee Adama has her walking a tight wire. She almost resents him for it and swears that she won’t talk to him for at least a week – maybe two weeks – if he walks away like nothing’s happened.

Apparently, it’s the last thing on Lee’s mind when he stands and strips his button down shirt over his head. She feels no pain as she does the same, her whole body going from zero to sixty at the thought of actually doing this. **Finally!**

“Gods, do you wear that bra all the time?” Lee asks, eying her breasts in the thin fabric.

Kara lifts an eyebrow. “Not all the time.” She slips a flimsy black strap down her shoulder and Lee visibly shudders.

Lee pulls her up to her knees on the bed and cups her face with a strong hand. “You’re such a flirt.”

She starts to argue when Lee kisses the breath from her lungs, pressing her back down onto her bed. She tentatively touches his smooth chest, gathering the courage to run her fingers over strong muscles and peaked nipples. Lee moans and Kara’s body floods with heat. She’s embarrassingly wet in seconds.

Lee kisses all over her face, down her throat and around to the sensitive skin under her ear. His long fingers – pilot fingers – pull off the rest of her clothing as Kara’s trying to fill her lungs with air. It feels like things are moving very fast and while part of her wouldn’t want it any other way, another part of Kara needs to gently apply the brakes.

A wave of nervousness forces her to blurt out, “I’ve never done this before.”

Lee stops immediately. “What?” He hovers over her body, panting into her hair.

Kara opens her mouth then closes it, wondering now why she said anything. She can trust Lee, he just proved that. “I’ve never done this before,” she says anyway. Trust goes both ways.

“Okay,” Lee says after a moment of thought. There isn’t an iota of disbelief on his face and Kara thinks that she might have just fallen in love. “We’ll take this slow.”

“I don’t want to,” Kara says honestly. “I just wanted you to know.”

Lee closes his eyes. His stomach is heaving against hers and Kara smoothes her hands up and down his shaking arms. She wants to say that it’s going to be okay, that he has nothing to worry about, when his clear eyes open again and pin her with their intensity.

He wants her. She doesn’t even need for him to say it.

Kara pulls him between her legs while her hands work on unfastening his pants. She’s watching Lee as closely as he watches her until she _has to_ look at his slim pale torso and hips, the darker skin of his cock surrounded by jet black hair, and his strong hairy thighs. When she focuses on his hard cock Kara’s muscles clench like she can feel him in her already.

“We need-,” Kara stammers.

Lee bends down to his discarded pants and emerges with a foil. “I have something.”

Kara bites her lip to keep in a whimper. “Frak, Lee.”

When his fingers trail down her thigh and sink without hesitation into her cunt she tips her head back and nearly wails. Lee rubs her sensitive nub with his thumb as he plunges into her deep, making room for himself. She knows that she’s going to be tight and that it’s going to hurt but this, right here, promises a big payoff.

He sucks a taut nipple into his mouth and Kara almost bucks off the bed.

Before long, Kara feels like she’s shaking all over and grips Lee’s shoulder to get his attention. “Do it.”

“Are you sure?” He asks, making her hotter.

“Please,” Kara begs. She wraps her legs around him as he fiddles with the condom then tries to focus when the large head of his cock slides through her folds.

Lee pauses right at her entrance. “Tell me if I hurt you.”

Kara feels like she’s hyperventilating. “Do it.”

At first there’s just pressure, enormous pressure pushing her open wider than she’s ever done on her own, then sharp pain that drives an agonized groan out of throat and brings tears to her eyes. Kara’s felt worse, for longer than the seconds Lee seems to press beyond Kara thinks she can possibly go, but he doesn’t know that and comforts her with soft words and kisses that soothe her faster than the best balm.

She stays still through the residual waves of discomfort until only thick, hard pressure remains, filling her up, making her want to feel more.

“Move,” she pants into his mouth. He kisses her to distraction, tongue licking everywhere, while he pulls out gently only to shove back in. Kara moans in both pain and pleasure and digs her fingers into his shoulders to encourage him on.

Lee literally pushes her past the aching pain of minutes ago, working his hips as he slips deeper and finds more spots that take Kara by surprise. A hand on her waist guides her hips up to meet his own and she slowly figures out a rhythm that keeps him tight against her, rubbing against her clit on every up stroke.

He bites her lip just when she feels like she’s getting close to coming and she jerks in his arms.

“Say you can take it harder,” Lee growls. She’s never heard his voice so deep before, so dangerous, and Kara’s trembling as she nods.

He sucks the soft skin at the crest of her breast between his lips when he thrusts hard enough to nudge her up the bed. The pain emerges again but competes deliciously with the tug in her belly saying that she’s about to come. Then she’s blinded, lightheaded, and all but shouting her completion. She can hear Lee moan wildly into her skin, feel his hands clench as his cock pulses inside the condom but can’t do more than shake and hold him tight.

They’re both wiped, Lee a nearly suffocating weight on her body, when he asks, “Are you okay?”

In truth, Kara’s pretty sore but a slew of emotions drown out the physical aches. Now, after the damage is done she wonders what this means for them. They’d been really good friends before and if Kara can’t have more of this then she knows she would do anything to get back the ‘before’.

She wonders why Lee, after months of tip-toeing around each other, does this now. What he wants now that it’s done. The need to know that feels like a more pressing concern than if she’s okay because his question can only be answered by her own.

“Why, Lee? Why now?”

Lee looks up at her from the cradle of her chest. His skin is glowing with sex and sweat, and he looks the most relaxed that she’s ever seen him.

“I got tired of waiting and wanted something to remember when you go home.”

What he says seems to have layers, too many to analyze in the state that she’s in, but Kara latches on to the obvious – the most hopeful.

“Lee, I’m not going home.”

Kara doesn’t tell him that the Academy is now her only home but from the way his arms tighten around her as he pulls them onto their side, he appears to understand. Lee lays a row of kisses on her shoulders and Kara wonders if he’s ever going to let her go. She hopes not.

Lee strokes away the sweaty hair sticking to her forehead, his eyes so open that Kara has to blink away tears of hope and surprise. She doesn’t let the moisture escape and she puts the questions she has temporarily on a shelf. They can wait until Lee gets back.

Then Lee renders her breathless once more when he says, “Neither am I.”

That tiny flame in her chest ignites and flames so brightly that she thinks that Lee should see the fire in her eyes. He must see something because he smiles, truly smiles, and Kara returns it thinking, _He’s more than pretty. He’s beautiful._

END


End file.
